Weekend storm wallops Newfoundland

Heavy snowfall, strong winds, power outages affect the island

A snow-covered SUV sits in the parking lot of the Avalon Mall during the height of Saturday’s storm. Most businesses in the area closed early due to the strong winds and heavy snowfall. — Photo by Keith Gosse/The Telegram

A winter storm affected much of Newfoundland over the weekend and paid extra attention to the central region Sunday.

According to Environment Canada, Gander received 41 centimetres of snowfall by 6:30 p.m. Sunday.

David Neil of the Gander Weather Office said snow was falling at a rate of three centimetres per hour at that point, and it was projected that a further 15-20 centimetres could fall before sunrise today.

Terra Nova got 34.7 centimetres of snow as of 5:30 p.m. Sunday based on unofficial data from Environment Canada — Neil said that figure may have underestimated the full amount.

St. John’s dealt with 22 centimetres of snow over the weekend, according to accumulations recorded at St. John’s International Airport, with most of it falling Saturday.

Roads were slippery and snow-covered in the city as city plows attempted to keep them clear. A relatively mild Sunday aided that cause.

Power outages were reported Sunday on the Burin Peninsula, in Western Newfoundland and on the Northern Peninsula. Sections of Marystown were without power Sunday afternoon. Other communities that were without power on the Burin Peninsula at times included Winterland, Beau Bois, Epworth and Drakes Cove.

Environment Canada reported a peak wind gust of 94 km/h in

St. Lawrence and, unofficially, 12.8 centimetres of snow.

Outages occurred on Twillingate Island in the communities of Kettle Cove and Purcell’s Harbour Sunday. Environment Canada reported a peak wind gust of 109 km/h over the weekend in Twillingate.

Outages were also reported Sunday morning on the Bonavista Peninsula and in the Clarenville area. Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro reported through its Twitter account later in the day that its Sunnyside station experienced an outage as a result of stormy conditions.

The Sunnyside station was back online at approximately 12:30 p.m. and resumed supplying power to Newfoundland Power at 1 p.m.

Bonavista reported 22.9 centimetres of snow as of 5:30 p.m. Sunday.

Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro advised residents of Newfoundland to conserve electricity Saturday evening as a precaution in light of cold weather and windy conditions.

One of the three generating units at Hydro’s plant in Holyrood went offline last month and has not been repaired.

That advisory was lifted shortly before 8 p.m.

In Western Newfoundland, a peak wind gust of 139 km/h was recorded in the Wreckhouse area. Environment Canada issued a blowing snow warning for much of the region. Environment Canada recorded 16 centimetres of snowfall at Deer Lake Regional Airport as of early Sunday evening.

A snow-covered SUV sits in the parking lot of the Avalon Mall during the height of Saturday’s storm. Most businesses in the area closed early due to the strong winds and heavy snowfall. — Photo by Keith Gosse/The Telegram